Books

A Bold Return to Giving a Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food by Harris, Will 2023

From the publisher: At once an intimate, multi-generational memoir and a microcosm of American agriculture at large, A BOLD RETURN TO GIVING A DAMN offers a pathway back to producing food the right way. At a time when food supply chains are straining, climate-induced catastrophes are playing havoc with harvests, and concern around who owns America’s farmland are more prescient than ever, Will Harris urges us to consider where the food we eat really comes from, and to re-connect to the places and people who raise what we eat each day. With keen storytelling, a good dose of irreverence, and an unflinching willingness to speak truth to power, Harris shows us why it’s never been more important to know your farmer than now.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #farming #agriculture #regenerativefarming #cattle #beef #ranch

Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future by Smaje, Chris 2023

From the publisher: Responding to Monbiot’s portrayal of an urban, high-energy, industrially manufactured food future as the answer to our current crises, and its unchallenged acceptance within the environmental discourse, Smaje was compelled to challenge Monbiot’s evidence and conclusions. At the same time, Smaje presents his powerful counterargument – a low-carbon agrarian localism that puts power in the hands of local communities, not high-tech corporates.

#book #foodproduction #UK #UKfoodsystem #reference #farming #agriculture #advertising #marketing #health #diet #nutrition #disparity

Ultra-Processed People: Why We Can't Stop Eating Food That Isn't Food by Van Tulleken, Chris 2023

From the publisher: An eye-opening investigation into the science, economics, history and production of ultra-processed food.

"If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one" —Bee Wilson

It's not you, it's the food.

How much of our daily caloric intake comes from ingesting substances that, technically speaking, do not meet traditional definitions of “food”? Chances are, if you’re eating something that came wrapped in plastic and contains a funky ingredient you don’t have in your kitchen, it's most likely—almost definitely—ultra-processed food, or UPF. More than the principal obstacle to “eating right,” UPF has been linked to metabolic disease, depression, inflammation, anxiety, and cancer, while the production, distribution, and disposal of UPF and related products globally is known to cause devastating environmental damage. At the same time, UPF represents the dominant, nigh-unavoidable food culture for millions upon millions of eaters.

Medical doctor and broadcaster Chris van Tulleken has spent his career trying to reframe the conversation around eating right, balancing the hard (and sometimes shocking) facts about what we're putting into our bodies with empathy for the natural desire to keep eating what we like, have time for, and can afford. As he argues in this book, we are all participants in an experiment we didn't consent to, one to determine how to get us to buy as much ultra-processed food as possible. It’s not as simple as stumbling across the right diet trend, finding time to meal plan, or avoiding over-indulging in sugar, fat, or carbs or any other culprit. Nor is it a matter of individual will. It’s about learning to live in “the third age of eating”—defined by the overwhelming abundance of ultra-processed eating options—and arming yourself with the simple and not-so-simple facts that will help you make the choices that are right for you.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #UKfoodsystem #EUfoodsystem #ultraprocessedfood #UPF #additives #derivatives #reference

What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim or Health by Montgomery, David R., Bikle, Anne 2022

From the publisher: The roots of good health start on farms. What Your Food Ate marshals evidence to illustrate how the health of the soil ripples through to that of crops, livestock, and ultimately us.

The long-running partnerships through which crops and soil life nourish one another suffuse plant and animal foods in the human diet with an array of compounds and nutrients our bodies need to protect us from pathogens and chronic ailments. Unfortunately, conventional agricultural practices unravel these vital partnerships and thereby undercut our well-being. Can farmers and ranchers produce enough nutrient-dense food to feed us all? Can we have quality and quantity?

With their trademark thoroughness and knack for integrating information across numerous scientific fields, This book charts the way forward. Navigating discoveries and epiphanies about the world beneath our feet, they reveal why regenerative farming practices hold the key to healing sick soil and untapped potential for improving human health.

Humanity’s hallmark endeavors of agriculture and medicine emerged from our understanding of the natural world—and still depend on it. Montgomery and Biklé eloquently update this fundamental reality and show us why what’s good for the land is good for us, too. What Your Food Ate is a must-read for farmers, eaters, chefs, doctors, and anyone concerned with reversing the modern epidemic of chronic diseases and mitigating climate change.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #farming #agriculture #regenerativefarming #solutions

Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal  by Bittman, Mark 2021

From the publisher: In Animal, Vegetable, Junk, trusted food authority Mark Bittman offers a panoramic view of how the frenzy for food has driven human history to some of its most catastrophic moments, from slavery and colonialism to famine and genocide—and to our current moment, wherein Big Food exacerbates climate change, plunders our planet, and sickens its people. Even still, Bittman refuses to concede that the battle is lost, pointing to activists, workers, and governments around the world who are choosing well-being over corporate greed and gluttony, and fighting to free society from Big Food’s grip.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference

Pastoral Song: A Farmer's Journey by Rebanks, James 2021

From the publisher: James Rebanks's acclaimed chronicle of the regeneration of his family's traditional English farm, revealing through this intimate lens the profound global transformation of agriculture and of the human relationship to the land.

#book #foodproduction #farming #England #UKfoodsystem #USfoodsystem #reference

Secret History of Food: Strange but True Stories About the Origins of Everything We Eat by Siegel, Matt 2021

From the publisher: An entertaining look at the foods we eat today.

Chapter 4 is about corn, Chapter 10 is about the food labeling system.

"...and anything that contains baking powder, caramel, cellulose, citric acid, dextrin, dextrose, inositol, malt, maltodextrin, monosodium glutamate (MSG), semolina, sodium erythorbate, sorbitol, starch, vanilla extract, xanthan gum, and xylitol. Note that corn isn’t always present in this group, but it can be. Nor is this even close to an exhaustive list, so this doesn’t constitute medical advice if you’re allergic to corn—and if you are allergic, good freaking luck, as the legislation requiring food manufacturers to disclose the presence of potential food allergens like milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans doesn’t apply to corn. And even if it did—well, we’ll get to that in chapter 10..."

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #cornallergy #history

Let’s Ask Marion: What You Need to Know About the Politics of Food, Nutrition, and Health by Nestle, Marion and Trueman, Kerry 2020

From the publisher: Let’s Ask Marion is a savvy and insightful question-and-answer collection that showcases the expertise of food politics powerhouse Marion Nestle in exchanges with environmental advocate Kerry Trueman. These informative essays show us how to advocate for food systems that are healthier for people and the planet, moving from the politics of personal dietary choices, to community food issues, and finally to matters that affect global food systems. Nestle has been thinking, writing, and teaching about food systems for decades, and her impact is unparalleled. Let’s Ask Marion provides an accessible survey of her opinions and conclusions for anyone curious about the individual, social, and global politics of food. 

#book #foodproduction #advertising #marketing #agriculture #foodsystem #ultraprocessedfoods #processedfoods #naturalfoods #foodhistory #nutrition

Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food by Newman, Lenore 2019

In regard to corn, she mentions how the bulk of our food comes from corn, rice, and wheat and that corn subsidies are important to keep meat and dairy cheap. She also highlighted that in Hawaii citric acid is the common pesticide used to control the invasive coqui frog, used as a spray in all areas - from the general public at their homes to the government using helicopters, similar to fire control, dumping it over large areas.

From the publisher: When we humans love foods, we love them a lot. In fact, we have often eaten them into extinction, whether it is the megafauna of the Paleolithic world or the passenger pigeon of the last century. In Lost Feast, food expert Lenore Newman sets out to look at the history of the foods we have loved to death and what that means for the culinary paths we choose for the future. Whether it’s chasing down the luscious butter of local Icelandic cattle or looking at the impacts of modern industrialized agriculture on the range of food varieties we can put in our shopping carts, Newman’s bright, intelligent gaze finds insight and humor at every turn.

Bracketing the chapters that look at the history of our relationship to specific foods, Lenore enlists her ecologist friend and fellow cook, Dan, in a series of “extinction dinners” designed to recreate meals of the past or to illustrate how we might be eating in the future. Part culinary romp, part environmental wake-up call, Lost Feast makes a critical contribution to our understanding of food security today. You will never look at what’s on your plate in quite the same way again.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #citricacid #hawaii #frogs #food #extinction

Proteins, Pathologies and Politics: Dietary Innovation and Disease from the Nineteenth Century.  

Chapter 3 Allergic to Innovation? Dietary Change and Debate about Food Allergy in the United States

Smith, Mathew and Gentilcore, D.

Bloomsbury Academic, 2018

Quotes: I begin by explaining why the emergence of food processing posed particular challenges to people with food allergies, and then provide two examples of foodstuffs that were indicted as particularly problematic, namely, corn (maize)...

After the Second World War, however, and paralleling the rapid changes in food processing, food allergists led by Randolph became suspicious of the foods and food chemicals used in food production, associating them with rising rates of food allergy. For Randolph, one of the most problematic of these was corn.  As he would discover, however, questioning corn raised the hackles of the food industry and created divisions within the allergy community about the possible perils of food processing...

#book #cornallergy #history #Randolph

Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture by Brown, Gabe 2018

From the publisher: Brown dropped the use of most of the herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers that are a standard part of conventional agriculture. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes, and changed his grazing practices. In so doing Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life—starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time.

In Dirt to Soil Gabe Brown tells the story of that amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to restoring the soil by laying out and explaining his “five principles of soil health”.

#book #regenerativefarming #notill #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference

Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat by Nestle, Marion 2018

From the publisher: Is chocolate heart-healthy? Does yogurt prevent type 2 diabetes? Do pomegranates help cheat death? News headlines bombard us with such amazing claims. They are reported as science, and have dramatic effects on what we eat.  Yet, as food expert Marion Nestle explains, these studies are more about marketing than science; they are often paid for by the companies and trade associations that sell those foods. Whether it’s a Coca-Cola-backed study hailing light exercise as a calorie neutralizer, claims for beef as a health food, or a report from investigators paid by a blueberry trade group concluding that this fruit prevents erectile dysfunction, every corner of the food industry knows how to turn conflicted research into big profit. As Nestle argues, it’s time to put public health first. Written with unmatched rigor and insight, Unsavory Truth reveals how the food industry manipulates nutrition science—and suggests what we can do about it.

Note: Chapters 4, 8, and 9 tell how the Corn Refiners Association, among other trade associations and food companies, help sponsor scientific studies that impact our food and food choices.

#book #advertising #marketing #scientificstudies #foodstudies #calltoaction #science #bias #marketresearch #research #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #solutions

The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat by Guyenet, Stephan J. Ph.D.

From the publisher: No one wants to overeat. And certainly no one wants to overeat for years, become overweight, and end up with a high risk of diabetes or heart disease– yet two thirds of Americans do precisely that. In my book The Hungry Brain, I argue that the problem is not necessarily a lack of willpower or an incorrect understanding of what to eat. Rather, our appetites and food choices are led astray by ancient, instinctive brain circuits that play by the rules of a survival game that no longer exists. And these circuits don’t care about how you look in a bathing suit next summer.

To make the case, The Hungry Brain takes readers on an eye-opening journey through cutting-edge neuroscience that has never before been available to a general audience, illustrated with beautiful images by Shizuka N. Aoki. The Hungry Brain delivers profound insights into why the brain undermines our weight goals and transforms these insights into practical guidelines for eating well and staying slim. Along the way, it explores how the human brain works, revealing how this mysterious organ makes us who we are.

Notes: In both this book and on the Ezra Klein Show (podcast), he relates highly refining the coca leaf to highly refining corn into dextrose and other derivatives causing dopamine hits in the reward center of our brain.

We've had less than a century on our current industrial diet and our huge variety of foods is causing a buffet effect (ease of overeating).

Grocery stores became popular in the 1920s and now they're bombarding us with an overabundance of tasty foods that are designed to be difficult to pass up.

"When it comes to food, our primary cues are calories and convenience. This becomes a liability in a world where calorie dense foods are more convenient than ever to purchase, prepare, and consume."

Corn, soybeans, and wheat receive more subsidies than any other crop in the United States.

"They also happen to be the basis of our most fattening food ingredients such as HFCS, white flour, soybean oil…, corn oil, and corn starch."

"In turn, the food industry uses these artificially cheap ingredients to compose extremely tempting and unbelievably low cost foods. A deal that's hard for the brain to pass up."

#book #advertising #marketing #scientificstudies #foodstudies #science #research #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #obesity #weight #howweeat #neuroscience

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Barber, Dan 2014

From the publisher: Barber explores the evolution of American food from the 'first plate,' or industrially-produced, meat-heavy dishes, to the 'second plate' of grass-fed meat and organic greens, and says that both of these approaches are ultimately neither sustainable nor healthy. Instead, Barber proposes Americans should move to the 'third plate,' a cuisine rooted in seasonal productivity, natural livestock rhythms, whole-grains, and small portions of free-range meat.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference

Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health by Robinson, Jo 2013

An excellent book that give the best ways to shop for vegetables and fruits at the grocery store and farmer's markets along with advice on how to grow each. With each item, she explains a bit of the history along with how they are grown today giving info on which types are more likely to have been sprayed and with what. It's a valuable resource, along with her website, for those of us who need to source safe produce.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #grocerystore #farmersmarket #gardening

Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by Montgomery, David R. 2012

From the publisher: A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #globalfoodsystem #reference #history

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Pollan, Michael 2009

From the publisher: Food. There’s plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?

Because most of what we’re consuming today is not food, and how we’re consuming it — in the car, in front of the TV, and increasingly alone — is not really eating. Instead of food, we’re consuming “edible foodlike substances” — no longer the products of nature but of food science. Many of them come packaged with health claims that should be our first clue they are anything but healthy. In the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become.

But if real food — the sort of food our great grandmothers would recognize as food — stands in need of defense, from whom does it need defending? From the food industry on one side and nutritional science on the other. Both stand to gain much from widespread confusion about what to eat, a question that for most of human history people have been able to answer without expert help. Yet the professionalization of eating has failed to make Americans healthier. Thirty years of official nutritional advice has only made us sicker and fatter while ruining countless numbers of meals.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Pollan, Michael 2007

From the publisher: His absorbing narrative takes us from Iowa cornfields to food-science laboratories, from feedlots and fast-food restaurants to organic farms and hunting grounds, always emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the handful of plant and animal species we depend on.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference

What to Eat by Nestle, Marion 2006

From the publisher: What to Eat is a book about how to make sensible food choices. Consider that today’s supermarket is ground zero for the food industry, a place where the giants of agribusiness compete for your purchases with profits—not health or nutrition—in mind. This book takes you on a guided tour of the supermarket, beginning in the produce section and continuing around the perimeter of the store to the dairy, meat, and fish counters, and then to the center aisles where you find the packaged foods, soft drinks, bottled waters, baby foods, and more.

Chapters 1, 5, and 27 touch on corn profit, corn subsidies, and how the word "sugar" became known as only cane and beet sugar due to the rise in corn sugars.

Be aware that this book was published in 2006 so there is some outdated information.

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #grocerystore #sugardefined #sugar #cornsugar #food #cornsubsidies

Silent Spring by Carson, Rachel 1962

From the publisher: Serialized in three parts in The New Yorker, where President John F. Kennedy read it in the summer of 1962, Silent Spring was published in August and became an instant best-seller and the most talked about book in decades. Utilizing her many sources in federal science and in private research, Carson spent over six years documenting her analysis that humans were misusing powerful, persistent, chemical pesticides before knowing the full extent of their potential harm to the whole biota.

Carson’s passionate concern in Silent Spring is with the future of the planet and all life on Earth. She calls for humans to act responsibly, carefully, and as stewards of the living earth.

#book #USfoodsystem #agriculture #farming #produce #pesticides #herbicides #health #history

Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Krawec, Patty 2022

From the publisher: This remarkable sojourn through Native and settler history, myth, identity, and spirituality helps us retrace our steps and pick up what was lost along the way: chances to honor rather than violate treaties, to see the land as a relative rather than a resource, and to unravel the history we have been taught.

#book #history #nativeamerican #nativeamericanhistory #land #farming #agriculture #sociology

We Are Each Other's Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy by Baszile, Natalie  2021

From the publisher: In this impressive anthology, Natalie Baszile brings together essays, poems, photographs, quotes, conversations, and first-person stories to examine black people’s connection to the American land from Emancipation to today. In the 1920s, there were over one million black farmers; today there are just 45,000. Baszile explores this crisis, through the farmers’ personal experiences. In their own words, middle aged and elderly black farmers explain why they continue to farm despite systemic discrimination and land loss. The "Returning Generation"—young farmers, who are building upon the legacy of their ancestors, talk about the challenges they face as they seek to redress issues of food justice, food sovereignty, and reparations. 

#book #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #reference #culture #black #history

The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live by Dreilinger, Danielle 2021

From the publisher: The term “home economics” may conjure traumatic memories of lopsided hand-sewn pillows or sunken muffins. But common conception obscures the story of the revolutionary science of better living. The field exploded opportunities for women in the twentieth century by reducing domestic work and providing jobs as professors, engineers, chemists, and businesspeople. And it has something to teach us today.

Home economics followed the currents of American culture even as it shaped them. Dreilinger brings forward the racism within the movement along with the strides taken by women of color who were influential leaders and innovators. She also looks at the personal lives of home economics’ women, as they chose to be single, share lives with other women, or try for egalitarian marriages.

This groundbreaking and engaging history restores a denigrated subject to its rightful importance, as it reminds us that everyone should learn how to cook a meal, balance their account, and fight for a better world.

#book #homeec #reference #sociology

Prairie Fires by Fraser, Caroline 2017

From the publisher: The Little House books, for all the hardships they describe, are paeans to the pioneer spirit, portraying it as triumphant against all odds. But Wilder’s real life was harder and grittier than that, a story of relentless struggle, rootlessness, and poverty. 

Spanning nearly a century of epochal change, from the Indian Wars to the Dust Bowl, Wilder’s dramatic life provides a unique perspective on American history and our national mythology of self-reliance. With fresh insights and new discoveries, Prairie Fires reveals the complex woman whose classic stories grip us to this day.

#book #history #homesteading #familylife #prairielife #littlehouse #agriculture #dustbowl #farming #USfoodsystem #sociology #anthropology #reference

100 Million Years of Food: What Our Ancestors Ate and Why It Matters Today by Le, Stephen 2016

From the publisher: A fascinating tour through the evolution of the human diet and how we can improve our health by understanding our complicated history with food.

There are few areas of modern life that are burdened by as much information and advice, often contradictory, as our diet and health: eat a lot of meat, eat no meat; whole grains are healthy, whole grains are a disaster; eat everything in moderation; eat only certain foods--and on and on. In 100 Million Years of Food, biological anthropologist Stephen Le explains how cuisines of different cultures are a result of centuries of evolution, finely tuned to our biology and surroundings.

Today many cultures have strayed from their ancestral diets, relying instead on mass-produced food often made with chemicals that may be contributing to a rise in so-called Western diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and obesity.

#book #history #foodhistory #nutrition #agriculture #foodproduction

Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain's Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal by Vance, Erik 2016

From the publisher: This riveting narrative explores the world of placebos, hypnosis, false memories, and neurology to reveal the groundbreaking science of our suggestible minds. Could the secrets to personal health lie within our own brains? Journalist Erik Vance explores the surprising ways our expectations and beliefs influence our bodily responses to pain, disease, and everyday events. Drawing on centuries of research and interviews with leading experts in the field, Vance takes us on a fascinating adventure from Harvard’s research labs to a witch doctor’s office in Catemaco, Mexico, to an alternative medicine school near Beijing to your own local pharmacy. Vance’s firsthand dispatches will change the way you think—and feel.

#placebo #research #study #book

Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal by Carroll, Abigail 2013

From the publisher: In Three Squares, food historian Abigail Carroll upends the popular understanding of our most cherished mealtime traditions, revealing that our eating habits have never been stable — far from it, in fact. The eating patterns and ideals we’ve inherited are relatively recent inventions, the products of complex social and economic forces, as well as the efforts of ambitious inventors, scientists and health gurus. Whether we’re pouring ourselves a bowl of cereal, grabbing a quick sandwich, or congregating for a family dinner, our mealtime habits are living artifacts of our collective history — and represent only the latest stage in the evolution of the American meal. Our early meals, Carroll explains, were rustic affairs, often eaten hastily, without utensils, and standing up. Only in the nineteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution upset work schedules and drastically reduced the amount of time Americans could spend on the midday meal, did the shape of our modern “three squares” emerge: quick, simple, and cold breakfasts and lunches and larger, sit-down dinners. Since evening was the only part of the day when families could come together, dinner became a ritual — as American as apple pie. But with the rise of processed foods, snacking has become faster, cheaper, and easier than ever, and many fear for the fate of the cherished family meal as a result.

The story of how the simple gruel of our forefathers gave way to snack fixes and fast food, Three Squares also explains how Americans’ eating habits may change in the years to come. Only by understanding the history of the American meal can we can help determine its future.

#book #meals #eating #culture #foodculture #foodproduction #USfoodsystem #history #reference

The Worst Hard Time by Egan, Timothy 2006

From the publisher: The National Book Award winning account of the Dust Bowl, the nation’s worst environmental disaster – a story of endurance and heroism, and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.

The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Timothy Egan’s critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, “the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect” (New York Times).

#book #history #agriculture #dustbowl #farming #USfoodsystem #reference

Complete Guides

The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 50th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself by Emery, Carla 2019 (and earlier editions)

From the publisher: For more than 50 years, this homesteading classic is the essential book of basic skills and country wisdom for living off the land, being prepared, and doing it yourself. Keep your family healthy, safe, and independent--no matter what's going on in the world.

From homesteaders to urban farmers, and everyone in between, there is a desire for a simpler way of life: a healthier, greener, more self-sustaining, and holistic approach that allows you to survive and thrive—even in uncertain times.

With its origins in the back-to-the-land movement of the late 1960s, Carla Emery’s landmark book has grown into a comprehensive guide to living a self-sustaining lifestyle. Learn how to live independently in this comprehensive guide.

#book #reference #homestead #howto #recipes

The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City by Knutzen, Kelly Coyne and Erik 2010

From the publisher: This celebrated, essential handbook shows how to grow and preserve your own food, clean your house without toxins, raise chickens, gain energy independence, and more. Step-by-step projects, tips, and anecdotes will help get you started homesteading immediately. The Urban Homestead is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and Internet resources on self-sufficiency topics.

#book #reference #homestead #howto

The Good Life by Nearing, Helen and Scott 1990

From the publisher: This new edition of Living the Good Life and Continuing the Good Life brings together in one volume the Nearings' classic guides to the theory and practice of rural homesteading.

Note: I highly recommend this book. I’ve marked over ⅔ of the pages for current and future reference.

#book #howto #food #gardening #farming #homesteading #rural #agriculture #recipes #vegetarian #history #homesteading #library #resource

Food Preservation

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving by Ball Home Canning Test Kitchen 2020

From the publisher: The 37th edition is filled to the brim with more than 75 new recipes, with handy tips and tricks for better fresh preserving. Every new edition of this guide is a chance to reflect contemporary tastes-but we are making sure never to lose sight of the values that make fresh preserving so special-after all, the Ball Blue Book Guide has been around since 1909.

#book #cookbook #canning #recipes

Complete Guide to Home Canning (Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539) by The US Dept of Agriculture 2019

From the publisher: Home canning has changed greatly in the 180 years since it was introduced as a way to preserve food. Scientists have found ways to produce safer, higher quality products. The irst part of this publication explains the scientiic principles on which canning techniques are based, discusses canning equipment, and describes the proper use of jars and lids. It describes basic canning ingredients and procedures and how to use them to achieve safe, high-quality canned products. Finally, it helps you decide whether or not and how much to can. The second part of this publication is a series of canning guides for speciic foods. These guides ofer detailed directions for making sugar syrups; and for canning fruits and fruit products, tomatoes and tomato products, vegetables, red meats, poultry, seafoods, and pickles and relishes. Handy guidelines for choosing the right quantities and quality of raw foods accompany each set of directions for fruits, tomatoes, and vegetables.

#book #cookbook #canning #reference #howto #recipes

The All New Ball Book Of Canning And Preserving: Over 350 of the Best Canned, Jammed, Pickled, and Preserved Recipes by Ball Home Canning Test Kitchen 2016

From the publisher: From the experts at Jarden Home Brands, makers of Ball canning products, comes the first truly comprehensive canning guide created for today's home cooks. This modern handbook boasts more than 350 of the best recipes ranging from jams and jellies to jerkies, pickles, salsas, and more-including extender recipes to create brand new dishes using your freshly preserved farmer's market finds or vegetable garden bounty.

#book #cookbook #canning #recipes

The Art of Natural Cheesemaking by Asher, David July 2015

From the publisher: Most DIY cheesemaking books are hard to follow, complicated, and confusing, and call for the use of packaged freeze-dried cultures, chemical additives, and expensive cheesemaking equipment. For though bread baking has its sourdough, brewing its lambic ales, and pickling its wild fermentation, standard Western cheesemaking practice today is decidedly unnatural. In The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, David Asher practices and preaches a traditional, but increasingly countercultural, way of making cheese—one that is natural and intuitive, grounded in ecological principles and biological science.

This book encourages home and small-scale commercial cheesemakers to take a different approach by showing them:

•    How to source good milk, including raw milk;

•    How to keep their own bacterial starter cultures and fungal ripening cultures;

•    How make their own rennet—and how to make good cheese without it;

•    How to avoid the use of plastic equipment and chemical additives; and

•    How to use appropriate technologies.

Note: He also mentions how citric acid is made from corn.

#book #reference #howto #cheese #yogurt #kefir #grassfed #milk #dairy

Fermented Vegetables by Shockey, Kirsten K. & Christopher 2014

From the publisher: Master the techniques for making sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and other savory, probiotic-rich foods in your own kitchen. This easy-to-follow, comprehensive guide presents more than 120 recipes for fermenting 64 different vegetables and herbs. Learn the basics, and then refine your technique as you expand your repertoire to include curried golden beets, pickled green coriander, and carrot kraut. With a variety of creative and healthy recipes, many of which can be made in batches as small as one pint, you’ll enjoy this fun and delicious way to preserve and eat your vegetables.

"Submerge in brine and all will be fine."

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Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation by The Gardeners and Farmers of Terre Vivante 2007

From the publisher: Typical books about preserving garden produce nearly always assume that modern "kitchen gardeners" will boil or freeze their vegetables and fruits. Yet here is a book that goes back celebrating traditional but little-known French techniques for storing and preserving edibles in ways that maximize flavor and nutrition.

Translated into English, and with a new foreword by Deborah Madison, this book deliberately ignores freezing and high-temperature canning in favor of methods that are superior because they are less costly and more energy-efficient.

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Gardening

All New Square Foot Gardening by Bartholomey, Mel and The Square Foot Gardening Foundation 2018

From the publisher: Since Square Foot Gardening was first introduced in 1981, the revolutionary new way to garden developed by Mel Bartholomew has helped millions of home gardeners grow more fresh produce in less space and with less work. Now, based largely on the input and experience of these millions, the system has been even further refined and improved to fully meet today’s changing resources, needs, and challenges.

#book #reference #gardening #howto

The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times by Carol Deppe 2010

Carol Deppe is a celiac with food allergies.

From the publisher: CREATIVE, PRODUCTIVE GARDENING FOR GOOD TIMES AND BAD.

In an age of erratic weather and instability, people's interest in growing their own food is skyrocketing. The Resilient Gardener presents gardening techniques that stand up to challenges ranging from health problems, financial problems, and special dietary needs to serious disasters and climate change.

Scientist and expert gardener Carol Deppe draws from emerging science in many fields to develop the general principles of gardening for resilience. Gardeners will learn through Deppe's detailed instructions on growing, storing, and using the five crops central to self-reliance: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs.

Learn how to:

-Grow food in an era of wild weather and climate change

-Garden with little to no irrigation or "store-bought" inputs

-Garden efficiently and comfortably (even with a bad back)

-Customize your garden to deal with special dietary needs or a need for weight control

-Make breads and cakes from home-grown corn using original gluten-free recipes (with no other grains, artificial binders, or dairy products)

-Keep a laying flock of ducks or chickens, integrate them with your gardening, and grow most of their feed

-And more . . .

The Resilient Gardener is both a conceptual and a hands-on gardening book for all levels of experience. Optimistic as well as realistic, Deppe offers invaluable advice for gardeners (and their communities) to flourish.

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Vegetable Gardening in the Midwest by VanderBrug, Michael 2013

From the Publisher: How to grow your own food in the Heartland!

There is nothing more regionally specific than vegetable gardening—what to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are decisions based on climate, weather, and first frost. The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Midwest, by regional expert Michael VanderBrug, focuses on the unique eccentricities of the Midwest gardening calendar. The month-by-month format makes it perfect for beginners—gardeners can start gardening the month they pick it up.

This must-have book is for home gardeners in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

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Vegetable Gardening in the Northeast by Iannotti, Marie 2013

From the Publisher: Grow your own food in the Northeast!

Growing vegetables requires regionally specific information—what to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are based on climate, weather, and first frost. The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Northeast tackles this need head on, with regionally specific growing information written by local gardening expert, Marie Iannotti. Monthly planting guides show exactly what you can do in the garden from January through December. The skill sets go beyond the basics with tutorials on seed saving, worm bins, and more.

This must-have book is for gardeners in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The southernmost parts of Ontario, New Brunswick, Novia Scotia, and Quebec are also included.

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Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest by Forkner, Lorene Edwards 2013

From the publisher: There is nothing more regionally specific than vegetable gardening. What to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are unique decisions based on climate, weather, and first and last frost.

The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening: Pacific Northwest is a growing guide that truly understands the unique eccentricities of the Northwest growing calendar. The month-by-month format makes it perfect for beginners and accessible to everyone—you can start gardening the month you pick it up. Starting in January? The guide will show you how to make a seed order, plan crop rotations and succession plantings, and plant a crop of microgreens. No time to start until July? You can start planting beets, carrots, chard, kale, parsnips, and spinach for an early fall harvest.

This must-have book is for gardeners in Oregon, Washington, southeastern Alaska, and British Columbia.

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Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast by Wallace, Ira 2013

From the Publisher: There is nothing more regionally specific than vegetable gardening—what to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are decisions based on climate, weather, and first frost The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast tackles this need head on, with regionally specific growing information written by local gardening expert, Ira Wallace. Monthly planting guides show exactly what you can do in the garden from January through December. The skill sets go beyond the basics with tutorials on seed saving, worm bins, and more.

This must-have book is for gardeners in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

#book #gardening #se #reference #howto

Vegetable Gardening in Southern California by Miller, Geri Galian 2013

From the Publisher: Grow your own food in the Golden State!

There is nothing more regionally specific than vegetable gardening—what to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are decisions based on climate, weather, and first frost. The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in Southern California, by regional expert Geri Miller, focuses on the unique eccentricities of California’s gardening calendar, which include extreme temperatures and low rainfall. The month-by-month format makes it perfect for beginners and accessible to everyone—gardeners can start gardening the month they pick it up.

#book #gardening #ca #reference #howto

The Pruning Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask by Hill, Lewis, O'Sullivan, Penelope 2011

From the publisher: When should you prune a blackberry bush? How much should you remove? What’s the difference between pinching and heading back? And how can you be sure that you aren’t harming your fragile blossoms? The Pruning Answer Book offers fresh insights to these relevant questions and scores of others. With clear instructions, detailed illustrations, and expert advice, you’ll have all the information you need to successfully prune flowering plants, fruit and nut trees, shrubs, brambles, evergreens, vines, groundcovers, and more.

#pruning #howto #trees #bushes #vines #fruittrees

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Riotte, Louise 1998

From the publisher: Plant parsley and asparagus together and you’ll have more of each, but keep broccoli and tomato plants far apart if you want them to thrive. Utilize the natural properties of plants to nourish the soil, repel pests, and secure a greater harvest. With plenty of insightful advice and suggestions for planting schemes, Louise Riotte will inspire you to turn your garden into a naturally nurturing ecosystem.

#book #reference #gardening #howto

The Old Farmer's Almanac

From the publisher: Long recognized as North America’s most-beloved and best-selling annual, this handy yellow book fulfills every need and expectation as a calendar of the heavens, a time capsule of the year, an essential reference that reads like a magazine. Always timely, topical, and distinctively “useful, with a pleasant degree of humor,” the Almanac is consulted daily throughout the year by users from all walks of life.

#book #reference #howto #gardening #homestead

Household and Personal Care

The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps by  Cavitch, Susan Miller 1995  

From the publisher: Making your own soap is fun, easy, and rewarding. In this introductory guide, Susan Miller Cavitch shows you how to craft your own all-natural, soaps. Illustrated directions take you through the whole process, from buying supplies to cutting the final bars. With easy-to-follow recipes that range from classics like oatmeal and honey soap to more adventurous combinations using goat milk and borage, you’ll be inspired to make uniquely personal soaps that are gentle on your skin and a pleasure for your nose.

#soapmaking #craft #howto #soap #shampoo #lotion #oil #reference